How to Apply Online – Grants FAQs

Please read the following FAQs and instructions carefully for information about our online application process. For more information about grants with the Cultural Council, please refer to the application guidelines found in the Application Toolkits for each Category (B, CII and CI).

GETTING STARTED

For the best user experience when accessing our Online Grants Manager, use the most recent version of: Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. It is fine to use Internet Explorer, but you may encounter some minor technical problems.

From the homepage for your Category (B, CII or CI), go to the Application Toolkit and click on the “Apply Online” link. After you have logged into the online grants manager, click the “Apply” link on the left. This will take you to the list of grant opportunities currently accepting applications. If you can’t find the correct Category application, its deadline may have already passed, or it might not have opened yet for the next round.

Our online application portal, operated by Foundant, connects us to Guidestar so that we may perform what’s called a “Charity Check.” In lieu of submitting the organization’s IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, you need to create a free profile on Guidestar. The Charity Check will replace the need to submit hard copies to the Council and other local funders now requiring Guidestar registration.

THE APPLICATION

No. Find the “Save” button at the bottom of the application to save the application often and before logging out. There is also an auto-save feature. You can log in at a later time to continue working on your application.

Yes, but it’s a good idea to draft your answers in a Word document first. When you first open the online application, you’ll see a “Question List” button at the top. Using this button, you can download and print all the application questions in a PDF for reference while you draft your answers in Word. Do not use any special formatting in your Word document – formatting will be lost as you copy and paste. You have some formatting capabilities within the online application itself. Best practices suggest that you paste your answer into a program like Notepad to strip out formatting before copying and pasting into the online application. Once you have answered at least one question on the application, another button will appear called “Application Packet.” This button will let you download a PDF of the questions and your answers to your computer.

When an application is successfully submitted, you will be taken to a confirmation page. In addition, you should receive an email confirming your application submission. If you have failed to respond to a required question, the system will notify you that the application is not complete and you will have to complete the missing questions before you can submit. If you do not receive the confirmation email or have any concerns, please contact the Grants Department.

FILE UPLOADS

Each file should have a name that identifies your organization and the type of required document. For example, a file of balance sheets and profit and loss statements for the past two fiscal years could be named “OrgName-financials.” Do not use any symbols except for a period or a dash, as symbols can interfere with the upload process.

Yes. The file size limit is indicated in each question requiring a file upload. Watch the file size on PDFs. PDFs can often be reduced in size by rescanning at a lower resolution. There are also programs that help compact a PDF’s size. Here is one tool to compress large PDF files: https://smallpdf.com/compress-pdf.